Western Mountaineering - Antelope MF

I have the Western Mountaineering Antelope. I love it and would highly recommend it if it is in your budget. I did not get the overfill and have not had a problem with the fill compressing so if I was going to get a new one, I don't think I'd get the overfill. I am a slide sleeper that roles around and the bag conforms around me nicely (I actually find it better then my warm-weather quilt that I some how mange to tangle myself up).

I move a lot in my sleep, and in cold weather I always get drafts with quilts. For Western bags, measure the circumference around your shoulders. If you’re <62” try the Antelope instead. If you sleep warm and you’re 62”-64” try the Versalite (10 degree but lighter fabric). If you’re 65”+ the Kodiak is the bag.

If you don’t want to buy a bag for 10 years, get the Antelope. You’ll pass it down to your grandchildren. I have one from the late 90’s that’s my favorite thing ever, and a newer one that is the best winter bag I’ve ever tried by a good margin. High quality, warmer than its rating, excellent craftsmanship and details, the Antelope is the move. You won’t regret it. For overfill, you should be good for temperatures you’ll see, and WM down is very high quality and you won’t lose much loft at all, so it’ll just be extra weight. You can always add it later

The #3 zipper thing is legit - had one snag so much on a trip I almost ripped the baffle, defintiely go with the #5 YKK on the WM if you're keeping it for a decade.

If you want the best, the answer is Western Mountaineering. The antelope 5 is absolutely amazing for low temps. I’ve been inside sweating in 0* weather. True comfort rating not survivable temps. When it comes to other brands, I’d be looking at feathered friends, Nemo, mountain hardware, marmot. If you are experienced with quilts, that is another option.

The correct answer. Don't forget the overfill option, well worth it. Feathered Friends is also a good company, but I can not disagree with free hop. -40F Bison would be a fine choice, I have a WM -5F and I am very happy with it. I like putting a reflective mat does as my first layer of insulation against the cold ground.

I liked my quilt when I was doing shorter trips. Once I started doing months at a time I grabbed a western mountaineering bag and I have no regrets. Helps me extend a bit more into shoulder season

Western Mountaineering mummy bag. I do a lot in shoulder season and these are very warm for the weight

Western Mountaineering, Feathered Friends or Marmot for bags. Enlightened Equipment, Hammock Gear or Katabatic for backpacking quilts. Not cheap but quality and comfortable.

There isn’t really an absolute best, but I like Katabatic for a quilt and western mountaineering or feathered friends for a bag. I prefer quilts down to around the low 20s, bags below that. Having a pocket in your quilt for a sleeping pad seems silly to me.

Good pad. Stick with that. Edit: (I forgot about the Nemo eclipse. That's something to look at. I don't think they're ready to ship yet. I don't know that factually. I think they're officially going on sale in march. REI was doing pre-orders.) Someone mentioned Western Mountaineering. That's the best. But they're expensive. I don't know if I'd recommend it for a beginner. I have one and it's totally worth it. If you know you're going to be out there, then maybe eventually you want to make that investment. In general about sleeping bags look at the EN or ISO Comfort rating. If they don't have that, you probably don't want it. That's an incorrect statement. Because even some top brands don't necessarily publish that for certain bags. In which case you just really need to look deeper into that bag. To give you a specific example, Western Mountaineering has EN number is published on a chart under their faqs. But that only goes down to their bags that are about zero rated and above. That doesn't mean that they're cold weather bags are crap. The exact opposite actually. But a lot of budget brands are throwing a temperature rating on there that may be more related to the extreme limit number which is survivability and you'll just be cold. If you want to look at the difference between the comfort, limit, and extreme limit rating, you can. But just stick with comfort. Maybe build in an extra 10° from what you actually expect to sleep in. That's a heavy tent. You can save a lot of weight there. Let me offer a specific alternative. Durston Xmid 2. It's a trekking pole tent. If you wanted to try trekking poles, this is a great way to save weight. If you don't want to use trekking poles, Durston sells ZFlicks poles. You'll still be significantly lighter than the Half dome 2. R/durstongearheads Naturehike is a budget brand with tents you can look at to see if one would work for you. You'd save money. And probably can come out a fair amount lighter. Check out r/ultralight. I'm not saying you should go full ultralight. But if you're going to be backpacking, save weight where you can.